Cities and towns will have to meet qualifying norms on urban reforms and quality of governance before they are identified for the Government of India smart cities projects, according to M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Urban Development Minister.
Over the next two days the concept of the smart cities projects will be finalised during a meeting of the Ministry with State Government officials.
The Urban Development Ministry will roll out a City Challenge in which urban centres hoping to be selected for smart city projects will be evaluated on a range of parameters including urban reforms, revenue collection, sanitation levels, capacity of urban local bodies, and creditworthiness.
Selection for smart city projects will be in done consultation with the State Governments, he said, addressing a seminar here today on Tamil Nadu Smart Cities, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Indian Green Building Council.
Broadly, three urban centres in each State will be selected — State capital cities cannot be converted but mid-sized cities, satellite towns that will help agglomeration of a cluster of towns into cities, and new capital cities will be selected, he said.
Development of smart cities will be based on retrofitting — by addressing deficiencies, redevelopment of areas that cannot be fixed, and green field development.
Naidu assured that the Ministry is looking at urban development beyond smart cities projects. Urban rejuvenation projects will also be implemented in over 500 cities.
The Union Minister had words of praise and criticism for Tamil Nadu. The State is a good example of the successful implementation of JNNURM projects and slum clearance projects, he said. But, unfortunately, there were too many unsustainable doles and freebie schemes, including free power and free distribution of household appliances, he said.
T. Chitty Babu, Conference Chairman, said the smart cities concept should cover the entire gamut of governance, efficient delivery of products and services to citizens, quality of life, and citizen participation. Apart from a couple of instances such as the development of Chandigarh and Jamshedpur, instances of planned urban development were lacking, he said.